Faster Than A Speeding Bullet
by SSVCloud
Summary: When a new Superhero visits Central City, will the Fastest Man Alive be left in the dust? And what's with this Clark Kent guy?
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: So, right away: I love Season 2. _But,_ unfortunately, it's hard to reconcile a plot that is still ongoing and all these extra characters with a plot I also have in mind which would include _even more_ extra characters. So assume that this is happening instead of Season 2. _Aaaalternate Uuuuuniverse!_

1: Strange Things (Are Happening to Me)

It was a perfectly normal morning in Central City; a sentence so rare that it was abnormal in and of itself. As Barry Allen walked into work that morning with a cup of "Jitters" coffee in each hand, one for himself and one for Joe West, he reflected on how… completely unremarkable the past 24 hours had been. Well, "Flash Day" hadn't _totally_ gone off without a hitch: there was this new villain in town, "The Folded Man" as Caitlin had insisted on dubbing him. Cisco had decided to let her have it despite thinking it was "the absolute worst". Regardless, he'd attempted to crash the festivities and, while Barry hadn't been able to apprehend him, he'd at least sent him packing. Apparently he could somehow displace himself into the fourth dimension. So _that_ would be fun to deal with. The team would be tackling him together, though. The encounter had finally shaken Barry out of his "lone cowboy" funk he'd been feeling ever since Ronnie's passing.

At least The Folded Man had nothing to do with the Particle Accelerator. Every time Barry encountered a meta that wasn't involved in the incident that gave him his powers he felt less like that one moment, that one _man_ defined his entire existence. Eobard Thawne, Barry tried to remind himself, was dead. Gone. Never coming back. His father was out of prison. Everything should be great! Still, Barry felt a strange tingling in the back of his mind that, if anything, things were about to get stranger.

As Barry entered the precinct he saw Joe sitting on the edge of someone's desk and talking to, without question, the biggest nerd he had ever seen. Not in the scope of his nerdom although he _was_ wearing a pair of thick-rimmed glasses, a suit, and a bowtie and his hair was parted perfectly to the left. It was the actual, physical _size_ of the nerd. Joe was a tall man, but he had to look up to talk to the other man. And this guy was _hunching._ As Joe was talking, the guy was scribbling in a small notepad with a pencil. Or maybe it just _seemed_ small in his giant hands. Joe stopped talking when he saw Barry coming close.

"Barry," he said as he looked around the man, "This is Clark Kent. He's a reporter from the Daily Planet in Metropolis. Clark, this is Barry Allen, our Forensic Scientist." Clark Kent, apparently, turned to Barry and smiled as Barry handed Joe his coffee.

"Metropolis?" Barry asked with a quirked eyebrow. "As in, East Coast, other end of the country Metropolis?" he smirked. "Must have been quite the commute." Clark went to hold out his hand for Barry to shake… and in the process dropped his notepad.

"Oh my goodness," Clark muttered as he bent down to pick it up, "I'm such a klutz." Barry bent down to get it for Clark at the same time and the pair collided and sprawled onto the floor on their rear ends. It was like Barry bonked into a brick wall and only a momentary lapse in maintaining his secret identity kept him from spilling coffee everywhere. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry!" Clark said as he helped Barry up. "Really, really sorry about that." Then he held out his hand and Barry finally shook it. "What I was going to say was that the Daily Planet is a national Newspaper and my boss thinks our readers would be interested in the nation's first metropolitan metahuman task force and how metahumans affect other parts of the judicial process." Barry wiggled his fingers when he was finished shaking Clark's hand. The guy had a _really_ good grip. "So I'll be in town for a couple of days, talking to members of Officer West's task force and others in the precinct, such as yourself."

"Oh," Barry said when everything was explained, "Well, that sounds great. Maybe another time though, I've got some stuff to take care of this morning." While this _was_ true, Barry would probably be done with that work in… five minutes? Mostly he just didn't want to answer any questions right now because he hadn't worked out how to word answers in such a way as to reveal too much… Flash-based information. Clark nodded and held up his hands.

"I completely understand. I'd hate to impede the motions of the wheels of justice, after all." Barry and Joe exchanged incredulous looks and Joe even mouthed "Wheels of Justice?" behind Clark's back. As if realizing how corny he just sounded, Clark cleared his throat and started to leave. "It was nice meeting you, Detective," he said as he shook Joe's hand, "And you too, Barry." He reached into his breast pocket like Barry figured he'd probably seen it done in the movies and handed him a business card. "Let me know when you're free for that interview." Then he walked out as the pair of them stared incredulously.

"Well…" Joe said awkwardly, "He seems…"

"Corny?" Barry asked.

"I was going to say chipper," Joe said, "But yeah, corny works. After all, I was talking to him for a good ten minutes before you showed up." Joe turned to Barry as his adopted son sipped his coffee. "Can you believe that he introduced himself to me with a 'How d'you do?'" Something about that nearly made Barry shoot coffee out of his nose.

SFSFSFSF

Iris West let out a small groan as she opened the browser on her work computer and saw, splashed right on the front page of the Central City Picture News website, a Superman story. It seemed like this Superman was everywhere in the past few months. Iris didn't see anything wrong with him, although she wasn't entirely sure she bought the whole "alien" story, and he _seemed_ like a real hero but she was just irritated by how much everyone seemed to adore him. While he was parading around through the sky, everyone had seemingly forgotten, or had never really known about, Eddie Thawne. The lie was that he'd died in the line of duty but only a handful of people knew the truth. He'd killed himself to stop Eobard Thawne from being born and saved countless lives, namely Barry's. Eddie had sacrificed himself to save the world and nobody would know because of the new shiny super-toy. Now she couldn't even start _work_ without seeing that stupid red–

"Excuse me," said a voice that broke Iris out of her stewing, "Iris West?" Iris looked up and let out a startled yelp that made the bespectacled giant to whom the voice belonged jump back. "Oh gosh, I'm sorry!" he quickly apologized, "I-I didn't mean to startle you." He quickly held out his hand. "I'm Clark Kent, with the Daily Planet." Iris smiled awkwardly and shook his hand.

"I think I've read a few of your articles," she said politely, "You're a pretty good writer, Mr. Kent. So what are you doing so far from home?" Kent seemed to blush at what was in all honesty a fairly mild compliment.

"Well gee, thanks!" he said appreciatively. "I'm in town to research an article about Central City's police task force for Metahumans." That was a surprise to Iris. She figured that if anything, he'd be here to try to uncover something about The Flash.

"So your boss has you looking for a story, huh?" she asked with a wry smile. Clark shook his head.

"My boss has me looking for _the truth."_ Normally that sort of statement would sound trite or insincere, but there was something incredibly earnest in the way Clark spoke. "Are you related to Detective Joe West?" Clark asked.

"As a matter of fact, I am." she said with a healthy bit of journalistic suspicion.

"I'm sorry, that probably sounded suspicious," could Clark read her mind? "He mentioned you when I interviewed him this morning, but a good reporter always double-checks his sources." Iris just chuckled and shook her head.

"That sounds like my dad." she said. "Well, Clark, if there's anything you need while you're in town, come by and let me know. One reporter to another." Clark smiled and gave her a nod.

"I'll keep that in mind." he said. After a small pause he added "Can I take you up on that? I… don't have any friends or anything who live in Central City and I'll be here a couple days." Iris raised an eyebrow and Clark raised his hand defensively. "Oh, n-no! I wasn't asking if I could, I mean that would be presuming too much. Could you recommend me a hotel or anything?" Iris burst out laughing and nodded as she scribbled an address on a sticky note.

"There's a Hotel 52 that's just off the highway," she explained as she handed him the sticky note, "I've heard good things about it." Clark took the sticky note and tipped an invisible cap at her.

"I'll be seeing you around, Ms. West." Clark said before he turned and left. Iris found herself mentally studying Clark's face after he was gone. She chewed on her pen and turned back to her monitor. Not that she found Clark attractive. Which wasn't to say he was _un_ attractive, but she didn't have that sort of thought process these days. His face looked _familiar,_ like Iris had seen it before. If she could just think of him with a different haircut… maybe without glasses?

SFSFSFSF

"So wait," Cisco said in Barry's ear as Barry made his rounds through Central City on patrol, "Let me get this straight. So Buddy Holly shows up at your job and is talking about how he doesn't want to "interrupt the wheels of justice?"" Barry chuckled as he turned a corner with a streak of lightning behind him.

"Yeah, that's the long and short of it." Barry said with a grin. He could practically hear Cisco's giant grin through the communicator.

"Ohhhhh my God, I cannot wait to talk to this guy."

"If we could stay on task," Caitlin cut in, "We just got a spike in metahuman energy at the… hockey stadium, of all things." Cisco clapped suddenly.

"That's where the Central City Combines are playing tonight!" he said urgently. "Barry, do _not_ let this guy mess up my fantasy team!"

"You do _not_ play fantasy hockey!" Barry said while struggling and failing to keep in a laugh.

"You don't know my hobbies!" Cisco said defensively.

"Focus, please, oh my goodness!" Caitlin groaned in exasperation.

"Don't worry, guys," Barry said as he put on a burst of speed, "I'll put this guy _on ice."_ Cisco laughed and Caitlin groaned. When he got to the stadium he was greeted by shrieks of civilians and just general pandamonium. Once he saw what was on the ice and attacking the players he was… confused was putting it mildly. "Uhhhhhh…"

"Talk to me, Barry," Cisco urged, "What are we looking at here?" Barry charged onto the ice and plucked players away from the… the…

"Imagine someone paved a new street," Barry explained as he set the players down on the sidelines, "And then that street came to life and caught fire" It was an enormous humanoid mass made of burning asphalt, as far as Barry could tell, with orange glowing eyes and a mouth; all bad signs but at least it was melting the ice under its feet. "Any ideas?"

"I'm thinkin' Tar Pit." Cisco said automatically. "But as for how to _stop_ this guy… well, you could always see if punching works. Just for the litmus test." Barry shrugged and charged forward as he pulled back his fist .

"Barry, wait!" Caitlin's cry was just a few seconds too short as Barry found his arm sunk into the elbow in "Tar Pit"'s abdomen. Barry stared at his arm and tried to pull it out but it was like his arm was trapped in quicksand. Or really thick oatmeal. "I was _trying_ to say that if this guy is made of burning asphalt then hitting him with your hands is probably not the smartest idea." Tar Pit chuckled while he loomed over Barry and it made him _extremely_ uncomfortable.

"Noted." Barry muttered as he started to vibrate his arm. He could see one of Tar Pit's huge arms swinging towards him and managed to pull away and zip across the rink at the last moment. "Okay, so I can't hit this guy with my fists and… and…" Barry's head was starting to swim. He blinked his head and tried to clear it but he felt like he was in a fog.

"Talk to me Barry," Cisco said with a slight tint of worry in his voice, "What's wrong?" Barry kept trying to clear his head as he spoke.

"The guy emits some kind of… chemical. Getting too close messed with my head." He balled up his fists as Tar Pit started to lumber towards him. "Maybe I could try to suck him up into a whirlwind?"

"Too many people," Caitlin reminded him, "And I think our problems are about to get bigger. We've got another metahuman energy signature headed towards the stadium. It's _huge_ and moving fast. Maybe as fast as–" whatever Caitlin was going to compare this meta's speed to, she was cut off by the sound of rending metal as a blue-red streak punched its way through the roof and came down between Barry and Tar Pit with enough force to crack the ice. His back was to Barry and his short red cape that came down to about the middle of his back was fluttering slightly.

"Don't worry," he said in a deep, reassuring voice as he began to stride towards Tar Pit, "I'll handle this." The yellow 'S' on the back of his cape shimmered in the stadium's lights. Tar Pit roared and swung a fist at him, a fist that was frozen solid with a breath. "No body inside there," he muttered, "So you must be an astral projection or something." Tar Pit roared again and the man drew back his fist. "This won't put a stop to you, unfortunately, but it _should_ put you out of people's hair for a while." Then he threw a punch that hit Tar Pit in the stomach. Unlike when Barry had punched Tar Pit, when he made contact, there was an explosion like a sonic boom and suddenly… Tar Pit wasn't there anymore. There was a stunned silence for half a second before the crowd roared into cheers. The man turned to face Barry and walked towards him again. The blue suit, the red trunks and boots, the black shield with the red S and the yellow border.

"Well," Flash said, putting on his voice, "You're quite a ways away from Metropolis." he held out his hand for the other man to shake. "Can't say I'm not glad for the assistance, of course."

"Always willing to help another hero." Superman said as he took The Flash's hand in his and shook it firmly. The crowd roared loudly and Barry could feel everyone in the stadium pulling out their phones and taking pictures without ever taking his eyes away from Superman. "Especially one who's served as… something of an inspiration."

"Did I just hear that right?" Cisco muttered out of the corner of his mouth as if he was pretending to speak conspiratorially. Superman gave a playful smile.

"Tell your friend that yes, he did." The Flash's eyes widened slightly.

"Okay," Cisco said, "I'm a little scared right now."

"You don't need to be." Superman assured them. "In fact, Flash… I need you and your team's help."


	2. Chapter 2

2: The Intergang Problem

"Wait," The Flash asked with just a smattering of disbelief, "You need _my_ help with something?" Not that he wouldn't help if Superman needed it, of course. He was just surprised that someone with Superman's powers, if even _half_ of them were true, would need anyone's help.

"As a matter of fact–" Superman started to say before he turned his head suddenly. "Sirens. Looks like the police have finally…" he had turned to talk to The Flash,

But the other hero had disappeared.

How… how had he done that?

Superman looked around suspiciously before he was approached by Detective Joe West while several other members of the CCPD fanned out around the area, with Barry Allen trailing behind. Now came the hard part for Clark; pretending he hadn't just met these people that morning.

"Detective," Superman greeted as he held out his hand, speaking in a slightly inquisitive tone so that Joe could introduce himself.

"Joe West," Joe said as he shook Superman's hand. Clark found it interesting that Joe shook Superman's hand a little more firmly than he did Clark Kent's. "So what exactly went down here?" Superman gestured to the space where Tar Pit had been standing as he spoke.

"The Flash and I confronted a metahuman," he explained, "That lacked a human body. It was just a sentient pile of asphalt. If I had to guess, someone with a power of psychological projection put themselves into that asphalt, so my attack was unfortunately not much more than a temporary measure. Whoever did this will eventually be able to reconstitute that asphalt form, or try to possess something else. But he's out of everyone's hair for now."

"I see," Joe said with a nod. "Barry," he gestured towards where Superman had been pointing while speaking to the Forensic Scientist, "Go see if there's anything you can find in the ice in terms of chemicals. See if we're just dealing with ordinary asphalt." Barry nodded and went about his work while Joe turned his attention back to Superman. "You seem like you've dealt with this sort of thing before." Superman gave a shrug.

"Well, you know, you deal with all kinds in Metropolis. Central City doesn't seem that different." he said with a chuckle. Joe nodded and chuckled as he rubbed his jaw.

"Don't you have a frost breath?" Joe asked suddenly. Superman blinked but nodded. Seemed like a strange time to ask about his powers. He could read one of Clark or Lois's articles about him in the Daily– "So why didn't you freeze him solid? Whoever was controlling him would have to leave the body and either possess someone else or just make a run for it." Superman was going to say something… then paused. He hadn't thought of that. _Why_ hadn't he thought of that? "Well," Joe said as if he realized he'd put Superman on the spot, "I suppose it doesn't matter. Can't expect you to do everything, can we? That's what my task force is for." Joe put out his hand and Superman shook it. "Still, if there's anything you need while you're in Central City, never hesitate to come by the precinct."

"I'll take you up on that." Superman said before turning his gaze skyward. "I… suppose I should do something about that hole, shouldn't I?" Superman flew up pushed the hole in the ceiling back into place before welding it with his heat vision. He waved to the still-cheering crowd down below and flew away, this time through a window.

"I can't believe you lectured _Superman."_ Barry muttered as he leaned on Joe's shoulder. "I mean, I shouldn't be surprised you _tried,_ but I can't believe it _worked."_ Joe just grinned widely and nodded.

"Guess I should let you two finish your convers..." Joe looked over his shoulder to see that his son had already disappeared.

SFSFSFSF

"Sorry I had to leave you hanging like that," Flash said as he and Superman regrouped on the outskirts of Central City, "But doing that thing with my voice and face for too long makes it start to feel funny." No sense in telling Superman that the _actual_ reason he had to leave was that Barry Allen had to do his job. Superman waved a dismissive hand.

"It's quite all right." Superman assured him. "You know," he added, "That's a pretty good trick of yours with your face. Wish I could do something like that. But I suppose I'm doing all right." He shrugged before continuing. "As I was saying before, I need your team's help. I have it on good authority that Intergang is moving its operation to Central City."

"Intergang?" Flash asked with a quizzical eyebrow hidden behind his mask. "Can't say I've heard of them."

"I'm not surprised," Superman admitted, "They were a Metropolis problem until I drove them out of town about a month ago. They're a crime syndicate that uses alien technology that no conventional law enforcement could match. I'm still trying to figure out _where_ they're getting their tech from, but it's definitely not Earth." Something about that bothered Superman but he quickly pushed on. "I was hoping that I could work with your team to flush Intergang out before they could take root and do any serious damage." Flash nodded and ran a hand over his mouth in thought.

"I'm willing to work with you, Superman," he assured the other hero, "But I want to make sure that this 'Good Authority' of yours knows what they're talking about. Why don't you come with me to STAR labs and you can mention all this stuff to my team?"

"I'll meet you there." Superman said with a smile before he took off into the sky. Flash started to run off after him and was surprised when Superman was running side-by-side with him down the street. "How do I _get_ to STAR labs?" Flash chuckled and shook his head.

"Just follow me." he told Superman and put on _maybe_ just a bit too much speed to show off. He smiled until he turned his head to look behind him… and saw that Superman was still right beside him. Superman smiled genially and gave him a wave.

Before Flash could go any faster they'd arrived at STAR Labs. Flash took Superman through the secret entrance and could only hope that Caitlin and Cisco would remember not to call him by his name.

"Nice work, Fla–" Cisco started to say before the words died mid-sentence as he saw The Flash and Superman standing side by side. "Oh I've got like a million different nerd alarms going off right now." Superman smiled almost bashfully while Flash chuckled and shook his head.

"Superman," he said as he gestured to his team, "Say hello to 'Team Flash'. This is Cisco Ramon and Caitlin Snow." Superman shook their hands with a smile and noticed a handful of factors immediately. A slight quickening in Caitlin's pulse and a small coloration in her cheeks. Nothing that he wasn't used to by now.

God, was it arrogant to think that? He sure hoped not.

Cisco was different, though. When Superman shook his hand, Cisco seemed to… freeze.

"So the three of you handle all the metahumans in this city?" Superman asked in hopes that he could diffuse whatever tension was bothering Cisco. "I must say, that's quite impressive."

"Well," Flash said with a touch of modesty, "It takes a team effort for this sort of thing. So what's this about your sources? If you don't mind me asking?"

"No," Superman told him, "It's quite all right. I won't disclose my Metropolis source, but my source from Gotham told me that he's seen no evidence of Intergang moving into his city and said, based on his own figures, that the most likely place Intergang looked like they would be moving to would be to Central City."

"Gotham?" Caitlin asked suspiciously. "What source do you have in Gotham? And how I might add, do we get in touch with him to confirm these figures? He might just be trying to keep Superman out of Gotham. Not that I can imagine why." There was a slightly awkward pause and Cisco cleared his throat with a smirk. "What?" Caitlin said defensively. "I just meant… he's Superman!"

"I understand, Caitlin." Superman said with a disarming smile. "He's called The Oracle. He's a good friend and he's been an invaluable source of information in the months since I started. Trust me, _he_ will contact _you."_ No sooner had Superman said that then Cisco's computer sounded off with a "Ping!" to signal that Cisco… had received an email.

Cisco's head swung around on a swivel before he slid into his wheely chair and got behind his desk and began typing furiously on his keyboard.

"I dunno how this guy got my email," Cisco muttered, "But it's gonna take me like… five minutes just to break this encryption on these files." His eyes were flying back and forth across the screen as his fingers typed away.

"How…" Flash muttered as he looked back and forth between Superman and Cisco, "How did he?" Superman shrugged.

"At the risk of sounding conceited," he began, "I'm the most powerful being on the planet and even _I_ don't understand how Oracle can do the things he does."

"As long as we're taking risks," Caitlin began to say, and that particular choice of opening statement was enough to make Flash and Superman widen their eyes slightly and make Cisco stop typing. "I didn't mean–!" Caitlin sputtered defensively before she let out a groan. "What I'm _trying_ to ask is, what are you really, Superman?" Cisco went back to typing as Superman raised an eyebrow.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked curiously. People had certainly asked _who_ he was before, but never _what._

"I mean," Caitlin said as she tapped her fingers along a desk, "In regards to your powers. The alien thing is a convenient cover up, but the idea that an extraterrestrial lifeform could look exactly like a human being seems a little… far-fetched. So, what gave you your powers? Radiation? Struck by lightning? Hit by a meteor? Cosmic rays? I'll even accept "magic" as a possibility."

"I'm sorry to disappoint you," Superman said, "But I'm an alien. I'm Kal-L, from the planet Krypton. I've had these powers all my life." Once again, Cisco stopped typing and looked up from his computer to stare at Superman while Flash's jaw dropped. "If you need to run any sort of physical tests on me to know for certain, I'll gladly accept." For reasons Superman hadn't expected, Caitlin's face brightened slightly at that suggestion.

In a few minutes, Superman was naked from the waist up with several sensors suckered onto his chest that fed data into one of Caitlin's computers, taking his vitals and biometrics. She'd also swabbed the inside of his cheek since, obviously, they couldn't draw blood or anything like that. The top half of his costume was also spread out on a table and being swept over by a scanner to see if it was made of any alien fabrics. _Alien._ Barry thought that was super cool.

"I have to ask," Caitlin said as she looked at the scans of Superman's fabrics, "How does your costume not get shredded when you're shot by bullets? Is it a special bullet-proof fabric?" Superman chuckled and shook his head.

"Not exactly," he explained, "My costume was made from several fabrics that were sent with me to Earth from Krypton. So, like me, they were affected by Earth's yellow sun, and they're as indestructible as I am." The STAR Labs trio stopped what they were doing to stare incredulously.

"W… wait," Flash started to say, "That doesn't–" Superman snickered for a moment before he doubled over, laughing uproariously as he held his stomach. The others soon realized that they had been pranked and began laughing as well.

"You… you should have seen your faces!" Superman breathed out as he continued to laugh.

"I-I was gonna say," Cisco said with a guffaw, "That would make _no sense!"_

"How would someone even cut the fabric?!" Caitlin asked incredulously between laughs. Superman finally straightened up again and wiped a tear from his eye.

"Oh, oh man," he gasped, "That _never_ gets old."

` "You've used that before?" Flash asked.

"Oh god my stomach," Cisco muttered as Superman nodded.

"Usually when I meet with scientist-types, it's their first question after all the alien questions. It's the first thing I tell them." Superman grinned as he said "And the smarter they are, the more confused they get."

"Well," Caitlin said, "I guess that makes us quite smart. So what's the truth?" Superman grinned and shrugged.

"Well I wasn't completely lying," he said, "My cape is from Krypton. It's what I was swaddled in. But the rest of my suit is just regular Earth cotton. My body generates a bioelectric field that expands just far enough to cover something skin-tight like my costume."

"So…" Flash asked, "The _cape_ is indestructible?" Superman shrugged.

"I try not to think too much about it." There was a ping and Cisco clapped his hands and held them over his head triumphantly.

"Encryption cracked!" he declared boastfully before he dragged the data on his laptop onto one of the larger wall screens. "Okay, let's take a look at this." Flash stared at the screen with his arms folded over his chest as Caitlin rubbed at her chin.

SFSFSFSF

It had been a _very_ busy evening for Iris. She had, for whatever reason, been given the sports assignment for the night. Not that she was complaining, of course, especially considering what happened. A new metahuman and Superman arriving in Central City? She'd definitely earned herself a front page story tonight. On a personal level, of course, she'd enjoyed seeing her dad _lecture_ Superman. They had been too far away for her to actually hear what they had been talking about, but Iris West knew the body language of Joe's lectures. She expected that she'd have a lot to talk about with the rest of "Team Flash" at STAR Labs.

"So what do we know about that Asph–" Iris started to say as she walked into the lab before she stopped. To say she was surprised by what she saw would be… an understatement. She noticed three things very quickly: Superman was in the lab. Shirtless. Why? More importantly, Barry was still wearing his mask, so Superman didn't know he was Barry Allen. Something she'd have to keep in mind as long as Superman was in the room.

"Oh," Barry said in surprise as he and the others turned to face her, "hello, Miss West." 'Miss West'. Barry could be such a goof. "Superman, this is Iris West. She's another part of… 'Team Flash', I guess you could say." Superman stepped forward and held out his hand for her to shake and Iris took it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss West," he said, "Always nice to meet a member of the press." There was a strange silence and the subtlest change in Superman's expression. "You'll… have to forgive me," he said awkwardly, "I might have seen your press badge in your purse."

"What," Cisco asked half-seriously, "You have x-ray vision?" Superman didn't say anything. "Wait, _you do?!"_

"Aaanyway," Iris said as she tried to steer the direction back to whatever important thing they'd been doing before, "What am I looking at?" She asked, pointing to the large screen.

"We've received some information from one of Superman's allies," Caitlin explained, "A man from Gotham who calls himself 'The Oracle'. The two of them seem to believe that a group known as Intergang is making its way to Central City." Flash nodded as he looked up at the screen.

"There's definitely been a spike in illegal activity in recent weeks," he said, "ID forgeries, black market gun movements, unlicensed cars. _Something_ is happening." Before the discussion could go any further, however, Superman turned his head to the side and squinted as if listening intently.

"I'm sorry," Superman said as he quickly began pulling the suction cups off his chest, "But I'm afraid I have to go."

"What's up," Cisco asked, "Maybe we can help?" Superman shook his head as he pulled his shirt back on.

"I'm afraid not," he said, "Some racist magician is in Qatar and created a Chinese dragon to attack civilians with."

"Why… why is he racist?" Caitlin asked curiously.

"Because," Superman said dryly, "He's screaming something about using a symbol of their own culture to destroy them." Iris's eyes went wide.

"Wow, that's… woooow." Superman nodded and made his way for the door.

"It was certainly a pleasure to meet all of you," he said politely, "And I look forward to working with you to take down Intergang and keep them out of your town." Superman was gone in a flash and there was a muffled THOOM a second later as Superman flew off with a sonic boom.

"So," Barry said as he pulled off his mask with visible relief, "I'll talk to Joe tonight, see if he can get anyone in Vice to look into any new crime element moving into the city." Iris nodded as she tapped her bottom lip.

"I'll see if anyone at work is covering anything like this." She added, "Not that I think someone like Superman would lie, but, y'know, you can never been too sure with Gotham."

"Okay," Cisco said, "It's been like a minute, so lemme just check somethin'." He turned one on of the TVs and flicked until he found CNN.

"That," Barry muttered in disbelief, "Is a Chinese Dragon in Qatar." It was breathing fire as it flew over the city and terrorized the screaming citizens so it seemed that whoever this racist magician was he couldn't even understand the mythology he was offensively using. Within seconds of Cisco finding the news, however, a small red-and-blue streak smashed into the dragon's snout with an almighty crash.

"That," Caitlin said with dawning disbelief, "That was a distance of over eight thousand miles _in a minute._ That's incredible!" Barry shrugged.

"It's easy when you can fly." He said perhaps a bit defensively. Iris smirked and elbowed him playfully in the side.

After a few minutes of discussion and plan-making to follow up on the information from this 'Oracle' and a change of clothes for Barry, Iris and Caitlin left, but Barry stopped Cisco before he could leave.

"Hey," Barry said, "Is everything alright? You got kinda weird when Superman shook your hand." Cisco lingered on the question before he shrugged.

"Well, y'know…" Cisco paused and chewed on his lip. It looked like he was hiding something. "I guess I was kinda starstruck?" Barry looked at Cisco with a sardonic expression.

"He said to his best friend The Flash," Barry quipped. Cisco held up his hands defensively.

"Bro," he said, "Come on, you're The Flash but you're also Barry." Barry thought about that and gave a shrug.

"Yeah, I guess," he agreed and turned to leave, "I'll see ya tomorrow, Cisco."

"Yeah," Cisco muttered as he watched Barry leave, "Tomorrow." Somehow, however, Cisco didn't know how much sleep he'd be getting tonight.

SFSFSFSF

When Cisco shook Superman's hand, _it_ happened again. He was suddenly somewhere else. No, not _somewhere._ Cisco realized where he was almost instantly. He was in Central City… _if it had been burned to the ground_. There were sirens wailing and people screaming as tumbled-down buildings burned in the background. Cisco looked down at the shattered pavement and saw Ray, Ollie, someone wearing Ronnie's Firestorm Splitter, Laurel … so many people. People he didn't even recognize: a redhead in orange and green armor, a man in a glowing green suit, a woman with a sword and shield, a pair in all-black with scalloped capes. Unconscious? Dead? He couldn't tell. Cisco looked up again and watched in horror as Barry charged towards someone shrouded in shadow with a billowing cape. They caught Barry by the throat and raised him high overhead as his eyes glowed red.

"Never… should have trusted you!" Barry gurgled out through clenched teeth before everything flashed red.


	3. Chapter 3

3\. The Hard Sell

Leonard Snart awoke with a groan in total darkness. He could tell he was sitting in a chair but he didn't feel tied down. So if this was some sort of kidnapping thing, they'd forgotten a pretty crucial step. There were several more groans around him so he wasn't alone. There was a sudden click and, a second later, a blinding flash of light. Snart groaned and squeezed his eyes shut to try to block out the light, which was just doing _wonders_ for his headache. Really, just great.

He slowly opened his eyes again and once they'd adjusted to the harsh overhead lights he took stock of the room he was in and the people in it. He was, as he'd suspected, in a chair. As far as rooms, if he didn't know better he'd guess he was in an empty warehouse. The building was huge, with a high ceiling and very few windows. Finally, he was able to focus his attention on the other people in the room. On one side of him was Mick, the nutjob who called himself Heatwave. _That_ was annoying. On the other side was his sister Lisa. _Now_ he was mad. Next to her was… oh God, what was his name? Haley? Henshaw? Hambone? No, it wouldn't be Hambone.

"Hey," he called, "I forget, who the hell are you, again?" Whatever his name was, he looked offended.

"Hartley," he said as if that was supposed to mean something, "Hartley Rathaway?" Snart shrugged.

"Don't get all mad," he said, "Not my fault I wasn't one of the losers who got caught and put in a jar." Then he turned his attention to Lisa. "You alright, sis?" Lisa nodded.

"Fine," she assured him, "I've just got one _hell_ of a headache." Snart nodded sympathetically.

"I'm fine too, by the way," Mick grumbled. Snart shrugged.

"I don't really care." He said curtly and chuckled when Mick grumbled some more. Suddenly the door opened and someone walked into the room, slowly coming towards them. He was dressed in a dark green suit with a black shirt and a dark yellow tie, with a pencil-thin mustache and a slicked-back bouffant of black hair.

"Jeez," Mick muttered, "Someone give that gorilla who lives in the sewer a shave?" Snart had to agree with Mick for once. The man was _huge._ The man came close enough to them that Snart could see the thick hair on the back of his hands as he reached up and straightened his tie.

"Gentlemen," the man said, "And lady," he added as he nodded to Lisa who rolled her eyes, "My name is Bruno Mannheim. I am the head of a crime syndicate known as Intergang." Hartley chuckled.

"You mean the thugs who expect people to believe they have rayguns from space," he asked mockingly, "And who got run out of Metropolis by the kid in the cape?" he chuckled again and Snart rolled his eyes. The genius-types were always morons. Bruno glowered and reached into his suit before pulling out a gun unlike anything any of them had ever seen. The red gun shined like it had a high chrome polish and glowed with deathly orange energy through slats in the gun and in the barrel. The thing made his Cold Gun look as advanced as a flintlock pistol. Everyone leaned away from it except for Mick, who leaned towards it with a grin.

"Where can I get one of those?" he muttered with the kind of tone you usually use for an attractive person. Bruno pointed the gun at Hartley and it hummed malevolently. Quickly enough, Hartley stopped laughing. Bruno nodded and put his gun away again.

"Now then," he continued as he folded his hands in front of himself, "I had you all brought here today because I have an offer you might be interested in. To even the field against your mutual enemy, since he'll by _my_ enemy when Intergang moves into Central City officially." Snart scoffed.

"I dunno if you noticed," he pointed out, "But we're doing pretty well for ourselves on that point." Bruno nodded and stroked his mustache.

"Ah, yes," he said, "Your Cold Guns, your Gold Guns, your Heat Guns and your Sonic Gloves. But these weapons can be taken from you. Turned on you. Deactivated."

"Come on already," Mick barked impatiently, "What's the pitch? I'm dyin' here!" Bruno chuckled and allowed himself a small smile. If a shark could smile, Snart thought, it would probably look like that.

"All right," he said, "Here's your pitch. I'd like you to work with Intergang. To help us make a mark in this city. In exchange, I can give you power. Power to take down The Flash and his little friends once and for all. Power to take on Superman himself. No one will be able to take your weapons away from you because you will _be_ your weapons." Snart's eyebrows arched with interest.

"Deal!" Mick said eagerly, practically bouncing in his seat like a kid waiting for a ride at Disneyworld. Snart rolled his eyes and took a moment to weigh his options. Considering the fact that Mannheim would _probably_ kill them…

"What the hell," Snart said with a shrug, "What kid didn't always dream of having super powers?" Lisa frowned and chewed her lip. If he had to guess, she was holding off because she had a sentimental attachment to her Gold Gun because Cisco made it for her. One of these days he'd have to have a talk with Cisco.

"I'm in." Lisa said finally with a nod.

"Me too," Hartley said meekly. Bruno nodded and turned his back to them and looked back at the door where trucks would come in through.

"Bring it in," he called. The door rolled open and a group of men wheeled in an ominous device that looked like a hospital bed from Hell. It had some kind of enormous, glowing needle strapped to it, with tubes going up and down the mechanism. Snart couldn't help himself from swallowing uncomfortably.

"Oh," Lisa quipped, "This is gonna be _fun."_

SFSFSFSF

Iris walked into Jitters the morning after Superman's arrival and was surprised to find Clark Kent sitting at the usual table that Team Flash wound up occupying. He was going over his notes from the day before and sipping an herbal tea. Iris smirked and sat down across from Clark after she ordered her own coffee.

"Not interested in The Flash?" Iris asked. Clark nearly choked and she chuckled.

"E-excuse me?" he stammered curiously as he patted his tie with a napkin.

"The drink," she said as she pointed over her shoulder to a banner advertising Jitter's "The Flash" coffee special. "You're not gonna get it anywhere else but Central City." Clark gave a bashful smile and shrugged.

"I guess I just don't need a lot of caffeine." he said. Iris nodded and sipped her espresso.

"So," she said, "Who're you talking to today?" Clark smiled and turned to a fresh page on his notepad.

"Well, I was going to interview the people behind the scientific division of the Task Force… but it turns out that's only Cisco Ramon." Iris grinned as Clark shrugged. "And I've already talked to your dad and to Captain Singh, sooo… I suppose I'll talk to some of the officers that have had dealings with metahumans." Iris nodded with a hand on her chin.

"Sounds like a busy day," she said. Clark nodded and sipped his coffee again. "I'm surprised you didn't go for coffee," she added as her voice dropped to a whisper, "I'd be pretty tired after fighting a dragon." Clark spluttered again and had to pound his chest to stop his coughing.

"I-I-I'm afraid I don't know what you mean, Miss West," Clark said and Iris just shook her head.

"Relax," she assured him, "I'm not going to spill your secret for a front page story." Clark didn't look all that assured.

"How did you figure it out?" Clark asked. Iris grinned.

"I'm an eagle-eyed reporter," she told him, "I was curious, and I've been able to pick up when people are hiding certain things from me at this point. Turns out that the Hotel 52 didn't get any Clark Kents yesterday. And besides, you kind of outed yourself when you called me a member of the press." Clark blushed and Iris reached forward to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Like I said, I'm not going to tell anyone. I've got my own secrets to cover." Clark looked up at her and grinned ever so slightly.

"You mean that Barry's the Flash?" he asked in a low voice. Her hand dropped away from his arm like a dead weight and her mouth opened in surprise.

"How…" she asked, worrying she was going to sound like a parrot, "How did you…?" Clark's grinned just a little bit more.

"I… may have peeked," he admitted as he tapped the tip of his pencil against his glasses. "I know it's rude but it's hard for me to fight the impulse." Clark held up his hands. "Hey, look at it this way. I can't sell Barry out because then you'll sell me out." His eyes widened as Iris scrunched her nose and frowned at him. "Not that I'd do that anyway. That's not what I… man, I'm not good at this." Iris grinned again and patted his hand.

"Relax," she told him, "I believe you," she stood up from her seat and turned to leave. "I'll let you go," she told him, "You might want to upgrade to coffee. You'll need all your energy to keep up with Cisco."

SFSFSFSF

When Barry came into work that morning to talk with Joe, his adoptive father seemed a little distant, as if something was on his mind. Having hidden a secret of his own from others for so long, Barry had picked up on when other people were hiding something of their own.

"Hey, Joe," Barry said as he and Joe walked and talked, "Is everything alright?" Joe rubbed his palm across his eyes and shook his head.

"No," Joe admitted, "No, not really. I…" Joe chewed his lip and the next words seemed to be a struggle, "I saw Francine today." That made Barry stop in his tracks.

"But I thought Francine was–"

"I know, I know," Joe said wearily as he dropped his head, "That's what I told Iris. I figured it was better than having her think that her mother ran out on her." Joe looked up again and looked Barry dead in the eye. "Barry," he said sternly, "You _cannot_ tell Iris about this. She _can't_ know." Barry sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"I don't know, Joe," he muttered reluctantly. Joe gave him a sad, pleading look and Barry threw up his hands, "Alright," he agreed, "Alright." What was one more huge, important secret? Joe nodded and the pair resumed walking.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Joe asked.

"Talked to Superman last night," Barry said casually, "He says he has a source from Gotham that believes Intergang is making moves to bring their operation into Central City after he drove them out of Metropolis. I was hoping you could have someone look into that?" Joe nodded and rubbed at his chin.

"Alright, "he said while trying not to focus on the absurdity of his son's life where he could so casually say that he'd spoken with Superman, "I'll see if anyone in vice has noticed anyone making moves." Barry nodded appreciatively as Joe remembered something, "Oh, speaking of Metropolis, our big reporter friend is talkin' to Cisco." Barry couldn't help but give a sympathetic chuckle. Cisco could be a little overwhelming the first time you met him.

SFSFSFSF

Clark took a moment to flip to a fresh page on his notepad and prepare before entering Cisco's workshop. It was never easy, the whole "pretending you'd never met someone before" bit. He cleared his throat before speaking.

"Pardon me, are you Cisco Ramon?" Cisco turned to face him, wearing a graphic tee-shirt that said "First Immortality, Then The Bitches" under his unbuttoned button up with a Big Belly Burger Big Gulp cup in one hand.

"That depends," Cisco said before taking a noisy sip, "Who's asking?"

"Oh well sure," Clark replied with a nervous chuckle as he adjusted his glasses with his free hand, "I'm Clark Kent, with the Daily Planet in Metropolis, and I've been looking for you."

"I'm getting nervous," Cisco said with a wary smirk. They both paused for a moment and blinked at one another before Clark pressed on.

"Anyway," he said, "I'm working on a piece about the CCPD's metahuman task force, how it's the first of its kind and…" Clark was cut off by his phone's ringtone, an eight-bit rendition of a very patriotic tune from a popular superhero movie.

"Is that–?" Cisco asked as his smirk grew while Clark took out his phone.

"I was a big fan," Clark admitted before swiping a thumb across the screen. "Jimmy," he muttered, "This is a bad time. I was just about to start an interview and–"

"Sorry Clark," came the voice of Jimmy Olsen over the phone, "I just had to check in! Besides, it's our lunch break over here. Not my fault Central City's on a three hour time difference. What's the weather like over there? We've been getting rain all week."

"It's nice, Jimmy," Clark said with the tiniest hint of irritation, "But I–"

"Oh, have you seen that Canary girl? You should _totally_ try to grab an interview with her."

"That's _Star_ City, Jimmy," Clark heard Lois say as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "And you wonder why you're still a "cub" reporter at thirty. Gimme the phone." Clark heard Jimmy's faint "ouch" as he handed the phone off to Lois Lane. "So, Smallville. How the heck did you get that Superman story so fast? I didn't even think you were a hockey fan."

"There's lots of things you don't know about me, Lois," Clark said with a slight exhale, "And I guess I'm just a good reporter."

"Well, Mr. Good Reporter, you'll be happy to know that Perry's extended your stay in Central City for another few days to see if anything else comes from this Flash and Superman stuff."

"That's great, Lois," Clark said, "But if you don't mind–"

"All right, all right," she acquiesced, "I'll let you get back to your big exposé. Just don't have too much fun in Central, Smallville. Otherwise, I'll have no one to talk to but Olsen and _Lombard._ "

"I wouldn't dream of it, Lois," Clark said, "I'll talk to you both later." Then he hung up and stashed the phone back in his pocket. "Sorry," he apologized to Cisco, "I guess we should start with when you started working with the CCPD." He took a pen out of his breast pocket and clicked it a few times before looking at Cisco. Cisco stared at Clark for a moment and squinted in thought.

"You…" Cisco muttered while wagging a finger at him, "You look familiar. Have I seen you somewhere?" Clark fought an inclination to groan. How many people were going to figure out who he was in _one day?_

"I couldn't say," Clark said, "I've been told I have one of those faces."

"Wait," Cisco said with sudden realization, "Now I know! You look like a friend of mine in Star City. You ever heard of Ray Palmer?" Clark nodded and tried not to look too relieved. "You could be him when he was in… High School. If he comes by while you're still in Central, I'll have to introduce you." With that crisis averted, Cisco hopped onto the edge of his workbench and folded his hands in his lap.

"I hope you'll forgive me," Clark said, "If I assume that you haven't always been a member of the CCPD." Cisco couldn't help but grin. Barry was right. He _really talked like that._

"Yeah," Cisco began, "I used to work for STAR Labs. I mean, I still do, it's just that's all I _used_ to do, and then I helped The Flash. Well, me and Caitlin Snow." Clark made a note to look into STAR and see if Caitlin would be willing to give a statement. "Now I work with the police to help them safely track down and apprehend metahumans." Clark nodded as he scribbled.

"I understand," Clark put in, "And I hope this doesn't bring up any unpleasant memories, but I understand that you had a rather… up-close interaction with some of Central City's high powered criminals last year. Do you feel like that had any bearing on your desire to help the police in an official capacity?" Cisco rubbed at his chin for a second before answering.

"Yeah," he agreed, "I guess it did. You're talking about Captain Cold and Golden Glider, right?" Clark nodded and Cisco sighed while he sadly shook his head. "Yeah, that whole thing… that was a mess. My brother got involved and he could have been really hurt. I guess that was when I started to think about getting a little more proactive, you know? By making the police better able to deal with these kinds of things, then maybe stuff like that won't happen so easily." Clark nodded and continued his scribbling.

"So," he asked, "What sort of hardware have you developed?" Cisco grinned and hopped off the bench, glad to be onto a more pleasant subject as he walked around his bench and gestured to his computer. "I've been working on a program, actually," he explained, "That will help the CCPD track metahuman activity. Here, lemme turn it on." With a few keystrokes, Cisco activated the program before Clark could stop him. Cisco's computer began to beep furiously and he stared in bug-eyed shock as every eye in the station fixed on them before Cisco shut the program down.

"Is it… _supposed_ to do that?" Clark asked awkwardly while trying to figure out the least-conspicuous way to tunnel through the earth.

"No," Cisco replied suspiciously, "But I might have to recalibrate the sensitivity. This thing used to go off for the smallest mutations. Red hair, green eyes, double joints."

"Oh," Clark said quickly, "That must be it. I struggled with Dyslexia as a child." Which wasn't a complete fabrication. When he was young, his brain tried to organize the symbols and characters of the English language into Kryptonese.

"And you're a reporter," Cisco pointed out with clear admiration, "That's awesome." After that, the interview went along fairly normally, discussing Cisco's interactions with The Flash, other metahumans, and how he felt that the Central City Metahuman Task Force would affect other police departments in the future.

"Well," Clark said as he snapped his note pad shut, "Thank you for your time, Mr. Ramon. I think I've gotten a lot of good things from this interview for my article."

"No problem," Cisco said as he shook Clark's hand, "Hey, you wanna meet up with me and a couple of my friends for lunch at Big Belly Burger? I'm _dying."_ Clark politely shook his head.

"No thanks," he said with a small wave of his free hand, "Not my kind of place. I'm a vegetarian." Cisco blinked and stared Clark up and down.

"...How?" he asked. Clark gave a small shrug.

"A lot of whey protein?" he suggested unconvincingly. Cisco shrugged.

"Hey, you do you, man." Clark smiled and turned to leave. "Just don't be a stranger while you're in Central!" Clark gave a wave over his shoulder and turned to say something… not noticing someone bumping into him until they were already halfway to the ground. At which point Clark remembered that he _also_ needed to fall down, and did so. His notepad went flying and he considered losing his glasses, but that would have been to comical.

"Oh jeez," he muttered as he started scrambling on hands and knees to pick up the other person's folder and scattered documents, "I-I'm really sorry about that."

"No," the other person, a young woman, said as she picked up his notepad, "It's my fault, I should have been looking."

"No, really," Clark said as he stood up with the folder in his hand, "I'm s–" he stopped and couldn't help but stare at the young woman in the police uniform standing across from him. Her blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and she had the most… _fascinating_ gray-green eyes. "Uh…" Clark stammered before handing her the folder and she stammered in response before handing him his notepad. "I'm Clark Kent," he finally said as he held out his hand, "Daily Planet."

"Patty Spivot," the young woman replied as she shook his hand, "CCPD. I mean, obviously, but, y'know. And I've really only been here for about a week, so..." she and Clark descended into a bit of nervous laughter before Clark suddenly thought of something.

"You know," he said, "I'm working on a story about the Metahuman Task Force."

"I'm on the Task Force!" Patty said excitedly. "I mean, that is, I _want_ to be."

"Really?" Clark asked and Patty nodded. "Then maybe you could tell me why that is. I mean, for the paper. Would you… would you want to get lunch?"

"Sure!" Patty said excitedly and the two walked out of the station. Barry was watching the whole spectacle from afar and was worried that his eyes might roll out of the top of his skull. Did that _really_ just happen?

"Jeez," he muttered, "Those two have enough pep to power an entire city for a week." The lights flickered and Barry wondered if they might _need_ that power. He looked out the window at some unpleasant clouds and frowned. Weatherman said that things were supposed to be sunny...

* * *

For those of you who might be curious, here's a quick casting list.

Clark Kent/Superman- Ian Harding

Jimmy Olsen- Steven Yeun

Lois Lane- Dilshad Vadsaria

Bruno Manheim- Joe Manganiello


End file.
